Registration and Reporting: Supplemental Letters

This page provides instructions for letters that a company may use for submitting specific EPA fuels programs registration requests. The following are procedures for correspondence in situations for which forms are not provided within EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX): OTAQREG Fuels Programs registration application. These procedures are not inclusive of all registration situations. Other registration actions may require additional documentation. All letters must be on company letterhead and have the wet ink signature of the Responsible Corporate Officer.

Send letters to one of the following addresses. When using a commercial delivery service, do not use the U.S. mail address (or vice versa) as your mail will be delayed, be returned, or never arrive at our offices. Be aware that sending materials via U.S. Mail will require an irradiation process and could delay delivery.

Responsible Corporate Officer (RCO) Change

Unless otherwise instructed by EPA, please have an associated user with the Company Editor role initiate this request in CDX/OTAQREG. If the RCO change cannot be made in OTAQREG, please contact Fuels Program Support for instructions.

Instructions to initiate an RCO change through CDX/OTAQREG are available in the Fuels Programs Registration User Guide (PDF)(97 pp, 6.3MB, EPA-420-B-14-081, September 2014) , Section 8.6. OTAQREG will automatically generate RCO Delegation Letters for all currently associated users. The new RCO will need to print and review these letters. Once complete, the new RCO must sign each Delegation Letter and the RCO Update Request, and send to EPA at one of the addresses above. Note: Please include both the previous RCO and new RCO signatures. If the previous RCO is unavailable to sign the RCO Update Request, please indicate a reason for the unavailability.

Should any user association require removal, please submit a Delegated User or Agent Association Termination Letter per the instructions below.

Terminate a Delegated User or Agent Association

Delegated User or Agent Association Termination Letter

If a user should no longer have access to a company for the OTAQ Fuels Programs applications in CDX, the Responsible Corporate Officer (RCO) may remove the user’s roles in the OTAQ Registration system. This will remove the user’s access to the company in any specified OTAQ Fuels Programs Services (e.g., OTAQREG, DCFUEL, EMTS).

To remove a delegated user from a company's CDX registration, EPA requires a letter on company letterhead signed and dated by the Responsible Corporate Officer (RCO). The letter must instruct EPA to remove the user's association in CDX OTAQREG with [Company name and Company ID] and lock the user's EMTS and/or DCFUEL access (if applicable). In the cover letter, the RCO must state:

“I understand that the fuels programs will not contact CDX on my behalf and it is my responsibility to contact any other CDX application that [insert user name and user CDX ID] uses or has used on my company's behalf.”;

Company name and company ID; and

Names of all CDX program services for which access should be removed. Note: Fuels Programs staff can edit only Fuels Programs registrations. Please contact the CDX helpdesk for help editing other EPA programs).

The letter must be mailed to either the USPS or commercial carrier address at the top of this page. In an emergency (for example, immediate termination or a compromised account), the RCO should notify the EPA by submitting a scanned copy of the signed Delegated User or Agent Association Termination letter via email to support@epamts-support.com on the same day that the original letter is mailed. The email subject should be "EMERGENCY EMPLOYEE REMOVAL." The email should also include all tracking information for the shipment of the letter.

User or Agent Self-termination Letter

To disassociate from a company, EPA requires a letter on the user's current employer's letterhead that includes the following:

Instructions for EPA to remove (USER - SPECIFY USER CDX ID) company associations to (SPECIFY COMPANY NAME and COMPANY ID#) and names of all CDX program services for which access should be removed (OTAQREG, DCFUEL, EMTS).

Include the statement: "I understand that the Fuels Programs administrators will not contact CDX on my behalf, and it is my responsibility to disassociate myself from any other CDX application that I use or previously used on this company's behalf."

To cancel the CDX account entirely the user will need to contact the CDX Helpdesk separately. Do not cancel the CDX User Account without first terminating the company association.

Deactivate a Company's EPA Fuels Programs Registration

Letter to Deactivate from EPA Fuels Programs Renewable Fuel Standard

Before deactivating a company, please take note of the EMTS and record-keeping requirements as provided in Title 40 CFR Subpart M Sections 80.1452 and 80.1454. Also, note the following reporting requirements.

Per Title 40 CFR Part 80 Subpart M Section 80.1451, any party that generates or owns RINs in a calendar quarter must report to EPA for that quarter. For questions about OTAQ Fuels Programs reporting, please refer to the following web page: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/reporting/index.htm

Per Title 40 CFR Part 80 Subpart M Section 80.1464, if a party owned RINs during a compliance year, an attest engagement is required under RFS2 regulations. RFS2 Attest Engagements are due May 31st of the year following the compliance year. For more information on attest engagements, please refer to the following web page: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/reporting/attestengage.htm

Deactivated companies cannot own RINs. The company will need to transfer any RINs the company owns to another company or wait for those RINs to expire per Title 40 CFR 80.1428(c):

RIN expiration. Except as provided in § 80.1427(a)(7), a RIN is valid for compliance during the calendar year in which it was generated, or the following calendar year. Any RIN that is not used for compliance purposes for the calendar year in which it was generated, or for the following calendar year, will be considered an expired RIN. Pursuant to § 80.1431(a), an expired RIN will be considered an invalid RIN and cannot be used for compliance purposes.

Please be aware that waiting for the RINs to expire may result in additional reporting obligations (including quarterly reports and attest engagements) as opposed to the alternative of transferring RINs to another company.

The RCO must submit a letter to one of the addresses above on company letterhead, identifying the company name, company ID and the Responsible Corporate Officer's name and title. If the Responsible Corporate Officer information has changed from that listed on the registration documentation, please include the prior RCO's name and the date when the change occurred. In the letter, please state:

The request to no longer be registered in the EPA Fuels Program(s);

Effective date for the company registration to become inactive;

That the entity is no longer conducting regulated business activities that require reporting, include the dates that regulated activities ceased, reports submitted [quarter, reporting year and report form names]; and

When any additional required documents (e.g., attest engagement) were, or will be, submitted. If applicable, please include any change in ownership information along with the new owner’s contact information.

Please note, once a company is no longer active in OTAQREG, EMTS and DCFUEL, the company’s RINs will not be accessible for transactions. Additionally, reports will not be available for document retrieval by associated CDX user accounts.

Withdrawal from EPA Part 79 Fuels and Fuel Additives Registration

On company letterhead identify the company name, company ID, and the Responsible Corporate Officer's name and title (if it has changed from that listed on the registration documentation, also include the prior RCO's name and the date when the change occurred). In the letter, please state:

The request to no longer be registered in the EPA Fuels Program(s);

That the entity no longer is conducting regulated business activities that require reporting, including the dates that regulated activities ceased and reports submitted [quarter, reporting year and report form names]; and

When any additional required documents were or will be submitted.

Please include any change in ownership and the new owner’s contact information, if applicable.

Quarterly Written Statement for Upward RIN Delegation

The following letters are for or those blenders and delegated parties registered for upward delegation per title 40 CFR 80.1440 provisions

UPWARDLY DELEGATING PARTY:

To Whom It May Concern:

I, <<Insert RCO name>>, <<Insert RCO Title>>, of <<Insert Company Name and EPA ID>> as a registered small blender under title 40 CFR 80.1440, delegate RIN-related responsibilities to <<Insert Delegated Company Name and EPA ID>> for <<Insert Reporting Quarter and Reporting Compliance Year>>. Both parties understand their individual responsibilities as they relate to the provisions of title 40 CFR 80.1440.

By signing this statement, I <<Insert RCO name>> certify the truthfulness and accuracy of the information in this delegation letter and I accept full responsibility for the information that <<Insert Delegated Company Name>> submits on my behalf to the Environmental Protection Agency. In the event that I terminate this relationship I will notify the EPA within 30 days. In the event my duties cease as Responsible Corporate Officer, so does this delegation and the new Responsible Corporate Officer must establish his/ her own delegation for <<Insert Delegating Company Name>>.

I, <<Insert RCO name>>, <<Insert RCO Title>>, of <<Insert Company Name and EPA ID>> as a registered RIN Owner under title 40 CFR 80.1440 accept delegation of RIN-related responsibilities from <<Insert Delegating Company Name and EPA ID>> for <<Insert Reporting Quarter and Reporting Compliance Year>>. Both parties understand their individual responsibilities as they relate to the provisions of title 40 CFR 80.1440.

By signing this statement, I <<Insert RCO name>> certify the truthfulness and accuracy of the information in this delegation letter and I accept full responsibility to submit information to the Environmental Protection Agency on the behalf of <<Insert Delegated Company Name>>. In the event that I terminate this relationship I will notify the EPA within 30 days. In the event my duties cease as Responsible Corporate Officer, so does this delegation and the new Responsible Corporate Officer must establish his/ her own delegation for <<Insert Delegated Company Name>>.

Third Party Agent Letters

Responsible Corporate Officer Submission Letter

EPA only accepts RCO Submission Letters that are generated by CDX/DCFUEL. The registered RCO is emailed this letter after each report submission in CDX/DCFUEL by an Agent. If an RCO does not receive an email for each submission, s/he must email support@epamts-support.com and state when the Agent submitted the file.

Agent Responsibility Letter

Individuals who register to submit reports for third parties must submit the Agent Responsibility Letter.

I, CDX Submitter Name, Title, of Consulting Company understand that I will be submitting on behalf of my clients and will only submit information that could be associated with their companies as true reportable information. I also understand the Responsible Corporate Officers of my client companies are responsible for the information that I submit as their Agent. I may be liable for information submitted that I submit and know to be untrue.
Signed,